The Smetkamps have won a home makeover in their house on Bland Street. Marvelous Mansions is a reality show that brings historic homes modern. When they are about to start renovations a herd of feral turkeys descends on the neighborhood halting production and construction. Then the dead body of Mrs. Smetkamp is found. Meg and the police must find the culprits.

I really enjoyed this mystery. It started off a bit slow but once the mystery started I got more involved. I love this series and how Meg helps everyone. I'm hoping one day I will be able to read the whole series including the first 30 books. 😉😍

When I know there is a new book in this series, I count down the days until I have it to read! And despite this being such a long-running series, I feel the author is so creative coming up with new mysteries for Meg to solve.

This book starts with a home improvement show filming their remodel on a house near the college. Meg has heard all the complaints until this latest one - someone has moved 200 feral turkeys from the woods to in front of this house! The turkeys are not friendly, and they begin to wreck havoc on the lawns as well as attack anyone who gets in their way.

Meg and Randall, the mayor, work together to come up with a plan to move the turkeys to the local zoo. However, on the morning they execute their plan, Meg finds the body of the homeowner, Mrs. Smetkamp, in the back shed. Mrs. Smetkamp was not an easy person to work with, so the suspects are plenty.

Can Meg find the killer before they find her?

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book.

Renegade turkeys, a home renovation makeover, turkey wranglers and a murder - all in a day's work for Meg Langslow and her Caerphilly crew.

I love all of Donna Andrews books but this one had me trying to solve the mystery while laughing so hard, I'm sure my family wondered what was going on. The mystery keeps you reading and the humor and eccentric characters of Meg's world keep you laughing and enjoying the relationships and helping nature of almost all of the small town.residents The scene describing the turkey retrieval was so much fun and all the loose ends were tied up nicely in the end. I can say, I'll never look at an umbrella the same way! LOL!

If you're in the mood for an entertaining mystery with humor, this is a great choice!

The opinions expressed in this review are my own and I received an ARC from NetGalley.

Meg isn’t doing much blacksmithing these days, but she is still busy with her extended family and her job as the assistant to the mayor. A house makeover film crew has invaded the town and brought chaos to a sedate and traditional neighborhood. Much of what the homeowner and the producer want isn’t allowed by the city. Then, one night a huge flock of wild turkeys shows up in the house’s yard and more hilarity ensues. While wrangling the turkeys, a body is discovered and now there is a murder to solve.
Nothing is easy as there is a mysterious, weird renter in the attic next door, a nutty former owner of the house who keeps tabs on the place, a house makeover by a producer who knows nothing about construction, and a murder victim who was disliked by literally everyone.
I had a suspicion as to the solution to the mystery early on, but the story is so much fun to read that it didn’t matter and I loved the way everything was tied up in the end.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

The Meg Langslow Mystery series is one of my very top favorite series, and I was thrilled to read an advanced copy of Between a Flock & a Hard Place.

Meg Langslow, bless her, is once again in the thick of things - this time a flock of feral turkeys that has been dumped at the site of a historic home slated for renovation for a reality TV show. The homeowner, Mrs. Smetkamp, is demanding, officious, and expects Meg to solve all the problems. The home renovation crew is pushing the limits of the building codes, and are about to destroy the house instead of renovating it. Meg’s problem-solving skills are put to the test when her plan of a crew of turkey-wranglers arrives in the wee hours of the morning to round up the turkeys…only to find the body of Mrs. Smetkamp stuffed in a shed. Who is the trouble-making prankster who brought the feral turkeys to a residential neighborhood? Where has the director of the project disappeared to? Who is the killer?

This is the 35th book in this award-winning mystery series, and a very welcome entry. Of course each book can be read as a standalone, but it’s such a delightful series that I highly recommend reading all the books. The series is populated by wonderfully quirky characters that I’ve come to know and love across the range of books. There is always a bird theme involved, and this one is hilarious with the feral turkeys.

The author, Donna Andrews, is brilliant at keeping each book fresh, with plenty of humor, plot twists, and crafting a puzzling mystery. I want to live in Caerphilly, be BFFs with Meg, and just immerse myself in this world.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for the privilege of reading an advanced copy.

I look forward to every single book by Donna Andrews. Her cozy mysteries are simply a delight and all the Meg Langslow characters in Caerphilly are so much fun. BETWEEN A FLOCK AND A HARD PLACE has to be in my top five favorite books in the series. Between the troublesome turkeys and the incompetent home improvement show, this one was just a hoot!

Meg’s neighbors, the Smetkamps, have won a home makeover. But things aren’t going well. Not only are the neighbors upset, but the renovations aren’t up to code… and then there is the giant flock of feral turkeys that has invaded their yard. Every cozy mystery series has a theme, and Donna Andrews knocks it out of the park with quirky bird appearances in every book, from peacocks to toucans to falcons. The turkeys manage to cause quite a bit of chaos, which is hilarious to read on page, and as Meg and her friends are trying to help their neighbors, the question remains… how did the turkeys get there?

Just as they think they may be coming up with a plan to snatch the turkeys, they find the body of poor Mrs. Smetkamp… and then Meg not only has to figure out who set the turkeys loose on the neighborhood, but who killed her neighbor, and if the two crimes are related. I enjoyed this one. The mysteries are always well plotted with good clues that are not easy to figure out and keep you guessing all the way to the very end! I can’t wait for the next Meg Langslow mystery! 5/5 stars.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary ARC copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for review purposes.

(I will share this review on my socials when we get closer to publication date. Loved it!)

I only discovered Donna Andrews’ books about a year and a half ago, and I’ve enjoying them immensely ever since.
This book is no exception. There isn’t really any blacksmithing, and some supporting characters are only mentioned in passing, but it’s an interesting change from a cast of thousands to barely more than a dozen.
A home improvement show is filming an episode in one of the quaint older neighborhoods when a flock of turkeys is let loose on the front lawn of the home slated for renovation. The town comes up with a plan for capturing the birds, but in the middle of the round-up, the woman who lives there is found murdered. As a woman who has spent her life fixing things, Meg Langslow is right in the thick of things.
There’s plenty of humor, great characters, a well-established community, and a few wildcards just to keep things interesting.
Oh, and Meg’s grandfather and her cousin are looking for ways to reduce the methane emissions of sheep!
From the previous books, I already knew what Horace, Randall, the chief and other characters were like, but I would have enjoyed a few more nuggets about each of them, and I’m not sure whether their character development will be evident to new readers. Of course, the best solution for that is to read ALL the books!
My thanks to NetGalley for making this ARC available. I’m looking forward to getting my print copy in a few months.

I stayed up way too late two nights in a row to finish this book. It was funny and fresh and full of unexpected incidents. This is the family everyone dreams of. They are quirky, smart, funny, and so supportive of each other. I can't wait for the next book in the series.

Thanks to Net Galley for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

I love Meg Langslow and this series. This book was one of the best in recent history. A house make over gone bad and a flock of feral turkeys set the stage for a murder ( or two). Some of the usual characters make an appearance along with several talented Pomeranians. I didn’t want it to end.

Another author where it's not really fair because I'm prejudiced. I've been reading her since the beginning and went to meet her at the Festival of the Book in Charlottesville, and she was very nice and fun. Meg Langslow is one of my favorite literary characters and I've gotten these as gifts because people know I read online and wanted me to have a comfort copy of books they know I like.
There is always a bird theme, and this premise is hilarious: there are aggressive turkeys taking over a neighborhood and nobody knows where they came from. At the same time, there is a supposed home renovation going on that is part of a TV show. Combine these with some odd and interesting new characters, mix with the characters I already know and love, and sit back and watch the fun. As always, I was left satisfied in the end with how things turned out, and I can't wait for the next installment. Thanks to Donna Andrews Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for letting me read this early in exchange for an honest review.

A home renovation to the point of destruction, a flock of angry relocated feral turkeys, as well as a dead body, left Meg's quiet neighborhood in Caerphilly in turmoil and a tizzy. Finding the turkey movers, the home-wrecking producer, and a killer keeps her, the sheriff, and the deputy busy and distracted as, one by one, the perpetrators are discovered and dealt with.
I recommend between a Flock and a Hard Place as a surprising and entertaining read.

Andrews will forever be one of my favorite cozy mystery writers. She's done it again with a mystery that is simultaneously twisty and hilarious and oh so compelling. Once I picked up this story, I couldn't put it down. As Meg handles yet another neighborhood crazy situation in handling a sudden turkey infestation, readers meet an intriguing cast of suspects that will leave you guessing at whodunnit. I loved the idea of a home makeover gone wrong and the twist at the end about why the murderer did what they did left me so surprised! Even after 35 books, Andrews leaves me guessing and leaves me wanting more books from the Langslow crew!

There's a lot going on in the latest Meg Langslow mystery. Another reality show is in town, this one filming a home rennovation for Marvelous Mansions with absolutely no concerns about how their plans are going to inconvenience the rest of the neighborhood or what the local building codes are. Someone has released a huge flock of feral turkeys into the area, terrorizing the locals and the construction crew. And there's been a murder.

This is a well established series with a LOT of characters. I jumped in with the last book (Let It Crow! Let It Crow!) and absolutely loved it, but I had a harder time getting into this one. Maybe it was because it was so fast paced, or maybe because I had a hard time relating to the turkeys. (We've got a local flock that I've never seen as a threat -- are wild turkeys and feral turkeys different critters?) The mystery itself is just complicated enough to be interesting and has a satisfying conclusion. I should really go back and start this series from the beginning.

Marvelous Mansions, a TV makeover show, is renovating the Smetkamp’s house but all is not going well. Meg is on her way to check that the TV crew is sticking to to the plans but she finds the work on hold and the neighborhood at a standstill as it is besieged by a flock of feral turkeys. She helps formulate a plan to round up the turkeys at dawn but even as the roundup begins Meg stumbles over Mrs Smetkamp’s body. There are suspects galore as Mrs Smetkamp was an incredible unpleasant woman and had disputes with lots of people - Jason, the home’s previous owner, Jared, the TV show producer, her husband of course as well as almost every person in the neighborhood. But who hated her enough to murder her?
This was a quick and fun read. While I was sure of the murderer’s identity and motive very early on the fun with Meg is getting to the big reveal. The action moves quickly, maybe four days from murder to solution, and there was an interesting side plot that was not part of the murder. The whole series is recommended and this is a delightful entry.

Through NetGalley, I received a free copy of BETWEEN A FLOCK AND A HARD PLACE (Book 35 of the Meg Langslow Mystery series) by Donna Andrews in exchange for an honest review. One neighborhood in Caerphilly is at war over the Smetkamps’ home renovation. Though the renovation has only been going on for a few days, Meg, as the mayor’s assistant, has been working for much longer to keep the neighborhood’s peace and to make sure the company knows what types of changes are and are not allowed. Alas, the feathers are flying now that the local flock of wild turkeys (the birds, not the booze) have become that neighborhood’s newest residents, and the toms are more interested in bullying than peeping. Everything comes to a gobbling halt when Mrs. Smetkamp, the driving force behind the renovation, is murdered. Now, Meg must find out who was responsible for the turkey invasion, how to humanely deal with the flock, who killed Mrs. Smetkamp, and how to deal with the now uninhabitable house.

I like the series and the book. I recommend the book to fans of the series and the series to fans of humorous cozy murder mysteries featuring family, birds, more birds, acting, theater, blacksmithing, and even more birds.

I received a free copy of, Between a Flock and a Hard Place, by Donna Andrews, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This the 35th book in The Meg Langslow Mysteries series. Everyone loves a turkey, on Thanksgiving, but not any other day of the year. Turkeys do not have a great reputation at all. Meg Langslow neighbor won a contest to fix their house, and nothing is going right. Somebody led some turkeys to their neighborhood, and they do no want to leave, and then her neighbor is murdered, Can Meg solve a murder, and wrangle the turkeys? What a good turkey mystery, I liked this book.

This book is another hit in the Meg Langslow series! This book was full of laughs, that was interesting and well written! I just so love Meg, and I’m always looking forward to a new book to release in this wonderful series!! I would highly recommend this book to everyone!M

Meg is as busy as she's ever been when a local neighborhood is swarmed by a flock of wild turkeys. The turkeys have been plaguing Caerphilly for months but they'd been gradually steered to the edge of town before suddenly showing up en masse in the middle of a home renovation show. As the angry homeowner barks orders, Meg, Randall Shiffley, and the chief of police are trying to figure out who got the birds there and how they did it (we never do figure out the how). When the angry homeowner turns up dead, the easier question to answer would be "who didn't want to kill her?" Narrowing down the suspects may be even more difficult than wrangling dozens of wild turkeys!

This is one of my favorite cozy series and one of few that I binge read. I love Meg and Michael and Josh and Jamie and Spike and Rose Noire and Grandfather and all the crazy characters that appear in the story. I think my favorite thing about the series is how they all find their perfect selves in this idyllic little town. Horace started out as this timid man who hid inside a mascot uniform and now he's a renowned forensic scientist (he still has his fears but they're much more relatable). Rose Noire was kind of flighty and no one really appreciated her unique skills, now she's the resident fixer of everything from breakfast to minor health issues (both physical and mental) to gardening. Even Meg started out as a young woman (literally) banging out a life for herself and by just being herself she found love and a new home and great purpose.

This book seemed a bit slow in the middle. The focus was mainly on the turkeys and their efforts to get the turkeys out of town to Grandfather's zoo. The murder was investigated and there were lots of suspects but there weren't really a lot of clues gathered and the woman had so repulsed the entire neighborhood that everyone had a motive, we didn't do a lot of narrowing-down of our suspect list. But then... the last few dozen pages have some big (HUGE) reveals that brought everything together. The ending was so great and so unexpected (for me) I could forgive a bit of drag in the middle.

Meg is a must read for any fan of cozy mysteries and a great starting place for anyone who maybe has never read a cozy and is interested in trying them out. This is not a series that can be read out of order though, there are a bazillion characters and unless the books are read in order I think they would be hard to follow. The characters are introduced gradually and very well-developed so when reading in order it's not at all difficult to keep track of who is who.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

This was another great entry in the Meg Langslow Mystery series, it had what I enjoyed from the previous books. It had the overall feel of the story. It uses the mystery element perfectly and enjoyed the overall feel of the story. I’m glad I was able to read this and thought Donna Andrews wrote this perfectly.

this is a book in a series but can be read as a standalone, Meg tries to keep peace with the neighborhood, as the Smetkamps have won a house make over from Marvelous Makeovers. you will find yourself laughing out loud.